I'm A Celebrity camp invaded by blood-sucking leeches sparking concern for stars

Blood-sucking leeches have found their way into the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! jungle camp causing some concern behind the scenes of the ITV show.

I'm A Celeb's line-up includes former politician Nigel Farage, 26-year-old influencer Nella Rose to Britney Spears' little sister Jamie Lynn Spears.

The tropical landscape's recent stormy battering has resulted in the emergence of leeches around the camp where the famous faces have been living after leaving behind their celebrity home comforts.

Made in Chelsea's Sam Thompson and Hollyoaks favourite Nick Pickard both come off second best in their encounters with the parasites.

While the TV stars are on a reality show, they are also in the middle of the Australian jungle.

Former stars Kim Woodburn and Nicola McLean had run-ins with leeches in previous series of the show.

It was reported that TV bosses gave a warning to the campmates.

A TV insider told The Sun: "Sam had a leech attach itself to his foot and Nick had one on his hand – the rain has brought them all out. Production has told the celebs to take extra care and be vigilant.

"Whilst leeches fall off naturally once they've drunk their fill, if the celebs are feeling weak, tired and hungry anyway it's far from ideal.

"There's also the risk that the leeches' entry site can become infected so it's a big issue."

ITV offered no further comment when approached by Yahoo News.

Fred Sirieix gets a tick in his arm

Leeches aren't the only invasive critters lurking around either, as camper Fred Sirieix realised he had a tick burrowing into his arm on Thursday's episode.

That didn't stop him taking on the cooking duties, though.

"Oh I got a tick!" Sirieix said. "First tick."

The news was a shock to the other campers as Danielle Harold exclaimed: "Oh my gosh."

She told Nella Rose: "I've never seen anything like it, its head was in his arm."

Away from the rest of the campers, Sam Thompson shared his fascination with the insect in a piece to camera.

In the Bush Telegraph, he said: "It was very interesting for us to see how it had burrowed its head into his skin. The face was in there sucking on his blood."

Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly reassured the audience at home that Sirieix was fine and he had been checked over by the medical team.

McPartlin said: "Fred was checked after having that tick removed and was absolutely fine."

Donnelly responded: "That's relief. Do we know how the tick was?"

Making light of the situation, McPartlin joked: "Well it started speaking French and arranging dates for other ticks. But apart from that, he's fine."

Rats

But it's not just insects that have been making their way into camp this year.

Josie Gibson's sleeping bag was being nibbled by a rat in the middle of the night earlier this week.

Nigel Farage was absolutely furious with the campmates after a bag of rubbish had been left discarded which attracted the rat to the I'm A Celebrity camp.

He was doubly angry when they gave him dirty plates to take back to camp.

Taking charge of the situation, Farage policed the washing up to ensure everything was tidy and clean.

The former politician wasn't afraid to challenge the fellow stars when he felt it wasn't up to standards.

He said: "F***ing joke. You gave me this to carry up it's all dirty. Bloody is! They haven't been done at all."

Snakes

Ahead of the show starting, there were more sightings of snakes than previous series.

I'm A Celebrity's health and safety officer Jeremy Douglas told The Sun: "We have had a lot of snakes on the site this year, possibly because it has been so humid.

"We have had pythons, and non-venomous and venomous species. You get small-eyed snakes and brown tree snakes predominantly."

Read more:

• 'It's a cow's teat!': Is this the grossest I'm a Celebrity Bushtucker Trial ever?

• I'm A Celeb's Nigel Farage naked again as Josie Gibson admits 'he looks good' for 59

• I'm A Celebrity's Jamie Lynn Spears kisses Sam Thompson as she jokes 'I'll have to explain it to my husband'

This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/im-a-celebrity-leeches-infestation-insects-152603977.html